Skip to main content

'Despicable Me' producer to help make 'Angry Birds' movie for 2016 release

'Despicable Me' producer to help make 'Angry Birds' movie for 2016 release

Share this story

Angry Birds Space
Angry Birds Space

Rovio is moving forward with its plan for an Angry Birds feature film. The company announced today that John Cohen, producer of Despicable Me, has signed on to produce the movie, which will be financed by Rovio. Outside his production work, Cohen has had an executive role in several animated movies, including two Ice Age films and the generally reviled 2007 remake of Alvin and the Chipmunks. David Maisel, formerly of Marvel Studios and currently an advisor for Rovio, will act as executive producer, as he did for Iron Man. In a release today, Rovio said that the movie was slated for release in the summer of 2016, though no other details have been given.

The Angry Birds film first came to light in mid-2011, when Maisel joined Rovio. Since then, we've seen both a Star Wars film tie-in and an animated short, which aired late last year. The company has said it will retain "full creative control" over the project by working outside the studio system, but we still don't know exactly how the short levels of Angry Birds will be translated into a full-length film, or how relevant the franchise will be when it's released several years from now.